Orientation Meeting
Thursday, August 28
7:30 p.m.

DISCIPLE I: BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY

Survey of the Bible

BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY is the foundation of the DISCIPLE Bible Study program.  DISCIPLE assumes that the bible is the key to renewal in the church.  It recognizes the human-divine nature of the Bible.  The actual texts of Scripture were written by human begins like ourselves in their cultural settings, under the divine inspiration of God.

This course gives equal time to both the Old and New Testaments, emphasizing the wholeness of the Bible as the revelation of God.  DISCIPLE aims at transformation, not just information and calls on people to submit themselves to examination by Scripture, to put themselves under the power of God's Word, and to be changed by God's Word.  DISCIPLE invites people to bring their experiences and struggles to the Scripture.

This study requires reading large portions of Scripture each week and is based on careful study and preparation.  During the course of thirty-four weeks, groups will move through the biblical story from Creation to the New Jerusalem.  The titles of the sessions along with theme words; theme verses; and major people, events, and topics will set the sequence of the biblical story in the minds of the participants.  The principal Scripture for each session follows the chronological movement of the biblical story.

DISCIPLE II:  INTO THE WORD - INTO THE WORLD

Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts

INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD encourages people to open themselves to hearing what God has to say to them through the Bible and to be guided into service in the world by Scripture and their study of it.

This thirty-two week study selects specific portions of Scripture and delves deeper into them.  Deep study of Scripture will be the work both of individual members and of the group in its weekly meeting.  Equal attention is given to Old and New Testaments with concentration on four books:  Genesis, Exodus, Luke and Acts (8 lessons on each book).  Appropriate connections are made to other parts of Scripture both through reading and study assignments and through commentary in the study manual.  Participants will read familiar passages, see them in fresh ways, and anticipate that God will speak to them.

INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD is prepare for those who have completed DISCIPLE:  BECOMING DISCIPLES  THROUGH BIBLE STUDY.  This study proclaims the transforming power of Scripture while teaching Bible study skills that take participants deeper into the Scripture.  The importance of keeping Bible study related to witness is reinforced while participants are encouraged to practice spiritual disciplines arising out of Scripture.  The purpose is to change habits and transform lives.  The study also emphasizes the rhythm of coming to God and going for God, of being in the Word and in the world individually and corporately.  This study understanding the growing Christian as under discipline in community and in ministry to the world.  INTO THE WORD INTO THE WORLD approaches all experiences of life as opportunities for faithful witness and service.

DISCIPLE III: REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

The Prophets and the Writings of Paul

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE is prepared for those who  have completed BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY.  The driving idea in this study is the connection between memory and identity as the people of God.  The word You in the title is meant to be heard both in its singular form (the individual) and its plural form (the community).  We are a community of memory.  Participants in this thirty-two week study will read the major and minor Old Testament prophets, with the exception of Daniel, and will read the thriteen letters of Paul.  To establish the historical context in which the prophets spoke for God, daily reading assignments also draw on the books of Deuteronomy through Chronicles.  Study of the prophets will follow their historical sequence rather than their biblical sequence.  The dating of Paul's letters influences the sequence of their study.

Several themes weave their way through the study - the call to remember; the call to repentance; the need for renewed vision (eyes to see, ears to hear); and the place of community.   REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE concentrates on the Old Testament prophets and the letters of Paul.  The prophets and Paul are continually calling hearers and readers back to their God and to a sense of who they are as a people "set apart".  The prophets and the community cannot be separated.  The prophets spoke for God, out of the community, and to the community.  Paul's experience of the risen Lord, his relationship to the community he addressed, his Jewish traditions, and the Greco-Roman culture of his day merged in his writing of the letters.  Paul used the language of his culture to carry the message that arose out of his roots in the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism.

DISCIPLE IV:  UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE

The Writings, John and Revelation

UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE is a 32-week study prepared for graduates of  BECOMING DISCIPLES THROUGH BIBLE STUDY.  The word under in the title is meant to convey invitations, welcome, sheltering, security, and rest - home at last.

The Hebrew version of what Christians call the Old Testament has three divisions:  Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the Prophets, and the Writings.  The Writings include all the books that are not part of the Torah or the Prophets.

UNDER THE TREE OF LIFE concentrates on the Writings in the Old Testament - Ruth, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and Daniel.  New Testament Scriptures include the Gospel of John; 1, 2, and 3 John; James; Jude; and Revelation.

Emphasis on the Psalms as Israel's hymnbook and prayer book leads naturally to an emphasis on worship in the study.  Present through the entire study is the sense of living toward completion - toward the climax of the message and the promise, extravagantly pictured in the Revelation.